Pages

Tuesday, 7 August 2018

'They are in over their head': Reward for missing Mollie Tibbetts hits a massive $260,000 as her father says he believes the 20-year-old University of Iowa student is with someone she knows

The family of Mollie Tibbetts is offering a $260,000 reward for information that leads to her safe return

Mollie's father, Rob Tibbetts, told Fox News that he believes that his daughter is still alive and may be with someone she's familiar with

In the past two weeks investigators have completed 200 interviews, fielded hundreds of tips and carried out painstaking fingertip searches

Mollie went missing on July 18 from her small hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa

With family and friends in the clear, investigators looked at registered sex offenders and convicted criminals living locally

The reward for the safe return of missing University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts has ballooned to $260,000 as the desperate search continues.

Crime Stoppers of Central Iowa said Sunday that relatives of the 20-year-old believe she's alive but has potentially been kidnapped.

They have received donations from across the country and hope the funds will lead to more information about her mysterious disappearance.

Her family are convinced she is still alive, two weeks after she vanished in the small town of Brooklyn.

Mollie's father told Fox News that he believes that his daughter may be with someone she's familiar with.

'It's totally speculation on my part, but I think Mollie is with someone that she knows, that is in over their head,' Rob Tibbetts said.

'My two cents is that no one went into that house to hurt her,' he added.

Rob Tibbetts (R) believes that his daughter Mollie (L) is still still alive and may be with someone she knows. Mollie Tibbets was reported missing on July 18

'That there was some kind of misunderstanding about the nature of their relationship and at this point they don't know how to get out from under this.'

'The longer we go without finding Mollie's body,' he continued, 'the more hopeful we are that she's alive somewhere and going through something that she can survive.'

Tibbets is urging anyone with information to come forward or for anyone who may be with his daughter to 'just simply call the authorities and put an end to this.'

Laura Calderwood (pictured), Mollie's mother, said the family has raised the reward money for her safe return to $260,000 on Monday

'Let Mollie come home and hold yourself accountable for what you've done so far, but don't escalate this to a point where you can't recover yourself,' he added.

Mollie went missing on July 18 from her small hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa.

Investigators are being tight-lipped about the case, saying holding back basic details may help solve it.

That includes saying whether they believe Tibbetts returned home from a jog the evening she went missing.

They won't say what they think happened to her or expand on the theories they are working.

In the past two weeks investigators have completed 200 interviews, fielded hundreds of tips and carried out painstaking fingertip searches of the vast cornfields surrounding the close-knit farming community, an hour east of De Moines.

But without a single credible lead pointing to her whereabouts, the missing college student's family says they feel like they're languishing in 'purgatory.'

'I'm either going to be headed up to heaven or down to hell, depending on the result,' Tibbett's mother, Laura Calderwood, told DailyMail.com

Psychology major Mollie was dog-sitting at the home of her construction worker boyfriend Dalton Jack, 20, when she set off for her evening run around 7.30pm.

He says his last contact with his girlfriend of three years was a Snapchat message he opened at around 10pm.

Investigators are so far refusing to say whether or not Mollie made it home from her jog, with conflicting evidence suggesting she may have gone missing later that night or even the next morning.

When she failed to show up her at her summer job at a daycare center on July 19, friends and family raised the alarm.

Investigators say they have ruled boyfriend Dalton Jack (L) out as a suspect and Laura Calderwood insists he's above suspicion.

And despite nationwide media coverage there have been no arrests nor confirmed sightings to date.

'Every time I try and form an opinion there is a piece there that doesn't fit into the puzzle,' a confounded Laura told DailyMail.com.

Investigators say they have ruled Jack out as a suspect and Laura Calderwood insists he's above suspicion.

'He's a good guy. They were devoted to one another,' she told DailyMail.com.

With family and friends in the clear, investigators looked at registered sex offenders and convicted criminals living locally.

Wayne Cheney, a man with stalking convictions in 2009 and 2014, lives in a trailer home about 500 yards from a pig farm that was searched by investigators eight days ago.

The 56-year-old told DailyMail.com he sold the facility to Prestage Farms five or six years ago.

He said he had never met Mollie or her family.

When asked about his previous arrests, he said: 'I was arrested in 2011 for breaching a restraining order. It was an ex girlfriend. That was the only time.'

Police in Dubuque meanwhile quizzed a suspect in an assault on a female jogger on Sunday while another man was questioned in Pella, an hour from Brooklyn, after he was spotted taking covert photos of girls.

However, neither individual has been linked to the hunt for Mollie and cops say they are yet to identify a suspect.

Authorities have also said a reported sighting of Mollie at a truck stop in the Kansas City, Missouri area late last month, was not her.

Willey says Crime Stoppers will protect the anonymity of tipsters who call in or submit tips online .

He says the organization has shared more than 200 anonymous tips with law enforcement since Monday.

With family and friends in the clear, investigators looked at registered sex offenders and convicted criminals living locally